Making a tenant homeless

[Plsenterausername]

I feel sick to my stomach…we’re not career LLs. We have been lucky and fortunate enough to buy 1 BTL in addition to our home. We have also been very lucky in that our tenants through the years have been wonderful - paying on time, looking after the flat. In turn we have raised the rent by just £25/pcm per tenant (3 in total) in 10 years, repairs (of course) immediately, replacing furniture immediately, getting their buy in with new sofas/mattresses - we have tried to be decent LLs.

One of our tenants hasn’t paid rent since Aug ‘24 and said he was looking for work and would make good on his arrears (he has done this in the past though the arrears were over a couple of months). He owes £5000 in rent now. I kept chasing asking for job interview updates, what his plan was, but got slow, non committal responses. Sadly, in January I had to tell him I would have to issue him with a Section 8 notice, unless he was able to leave voluntarily. I gave him 4 weeks notice. I have now found out he is going to be homeless as a result of leaving. I am beyond devastated that I have caused this to happen to someone.

We are planning on selling the property this year, so it would have just kicked the can further down the road…the room is going to remain empty…should we just let him stay till it sells? What message does that give the other tenants though? Such a mess over this ☹️

Any advice greatly appreciated x

I appreciate your concern - we do definitely have it as we purchased the freehold last year and have a legal obligation to hold it now. And the payment came out of the account used to manage the property - I just don’t have the policy documentation. Gah I hope I’m named on it!

You need to give him a kick up the arse for that - with my insurance you have to inform them as soon as the tenant falls two payments behind and you can then only claim whilst you follow the procedure for eviction. You can't just claim months later, or for months of arrears when you didn't have a payment plan or served notice.

You have been more kind than anyone. I doubt others would have let any of that slide let alone have it go on for such time. I know it is difficult but please do not feel bad. You have a business. You can't let some stranger that probably wouldn't give 2 💩💩 of the roles were reversed keep you from running your business

Thank you 🙏🏽 You’re absolutely right - definitely not cut out for it, hence selling up.

Firstly Op - it IS a business. And you don’t need to let anyone live in your house for free

Secondly - you have been kind and understanding. Giving the tenant time to pay and not immediately taking legal action at rent arrears is more than a lot of landlords would do

Thirdly - this tenant is more likely to get help from the council/housing association etc if they are technically homeless. So you’ve put them in the best position to get help

Don’t allow them back in the house. You’ve been more than fair. They could easily mean you struggle to sell your house and cost you even more money!

If he has worked here that long and has EUSS he would be eligible for it.

He probably won't get help from council due to the size of his arrears. He should have been getting housing benefit if he is unemployed.

I think you have been very generous letting it go on this long but you provide a service he has not paid for. Advise him to go to citizens advice.

Are you sure your husband arranged the landlords insurance, this is the first thing I would have looked at, months ago, it should cover missed rent

Agree with other posts. You have been more than fair. Being a LL is a business. It's not the tenant's building, it's yours. He should be put out. Then he will get any help. He's taking you for a fool, unfortunately. I'm assuming you are in England. If you are in Scotland, then eviction is a whole other lengthy process. My parents , in Scotland, have had a non paying tenant for over a year. Scots law now says the tenant does not have to leave until the court puts them out. It's a long , painful process.
Please get him out before laws change in England. Then you'll be stuck. Plus selling a property with a non paying tenant will be nigh on impossible.

Put him out. Good luck.

Just a bit concerned about your marriage, I hope you’re ok.

Even if you have insurance they only pay rent from the service of the eviction notice so you won't get your 5k from them.

This.

@Plsenterausername I am in a similar boat to you but my tenant decided to stop paying and then to spend the rent money in the pub and on weekend drugs!! I cannot wait to evict him. he still works. owes around 4.5k. in scotland it is a nightmare and now takes months and months to even get in the discussion stage with first tier tribunal. the tenant in scotland has way more rights than the landlord. private tenants have to do far more than social landlords too!!

Thank you wonderful Mumsnetters for making me feel much less shit for what we have had to do.

He’s leaving tomorrow, voluntarily, and I will be there to take the keys and change the locks and assess the cleanup process.

re: insurance - I finally got my hands on the policy documents and PPs are correct - we should have notified from the very first month of arrears. We’re both kicking ourselves. What’s the point of insurance if we’re not going to use it?!

Truly grateful for all the advice. Will point tenant in direction of CAB, council, Shelter etc so he can find his feet again.

Grateful for your sisterhood (forgive the assumption) and concern ♥️ We are more than okay and in a stable, loving marriage.

My parents were in the same situation as you but then found that the person needed the eviction process to run its course and the person to be ‘officially’ homeless (with a defined date) before the Local Authority stepped in and offered accommodation. Their tenant was waiting it out for a council house, in an area they wanted and wasn’t co operating (rejecting options) before so this would happen. Don’t feel too heartless. You’ve done what you can!

I’m sorry your parents have been facing a similar situation. I hope they manage to get them out without too much cost to themselves. We’re in England, and the tenant is moving out tomorrow without requiring a court order and court appointed bailiffs. I know what you mean about the impending changes - it’s meant to be for the unscrupulous landlords who turf tenants out without a moment’s notice, but means small time, responsible ones will get caught in the mix with tenants taking advantage. No winners in this. Except maybe Blackstone…

You have not caused this. It has been caused by the rent not being paid. You are not a charity.

I’m so sorry - that sounds a nightmare situation and incredibly frustrating. I hope you too can get the tenant out without much more cost to yourself. I don’t know what I would do in your shoes - I hate confrontation!

Op you sound lovely, I’m a ‘serial’ renter (sadly) have always looked after any home as if it were my own (with the LL permission) I’ve had a mixed bag of LLs. Some better than others, none of which have been anywhere ‘human’ considerate and caring as you.
if only there were more like you!
as others have said, with some signposting there is ‘some’ help available to for him. Thanks for being a lovely LL and looking out for him, I’m sure he’s appreciative, I know many of us would be!

Your tenant has made themselves homeless by not paying their rent. Repeat that to yourself every single time a feeling of guilt pops into your head.

Rent = Right to live in the house you own
No rent = You’ve got a squatter and they need to leave.

One property however it’s divided does not make career landlords

In my opinion lots of landlords don’t understand that they are running a business. So repairs etc aren’t optional it’s your responsibility to make sure you have the funds to get them done when they need done.

You’ve done that and been a responsible landlord. So put your business head on. You’ve been a reasonable landlord they haven’t been a reasonable tenant. Time to evict.

Keep emotion out of it.

I think you sound like a lovely landlord, OP. I just really hope that you have all the bits of paper you need to evict. I think the law is changing so there are will be more no fault evictions soon, and you will need to go down the s8 route. I think with arrears the tenant needs to be in arrears at the time you serve the notice and at the date of the court hearing, so it's possible that you will find yourself unable to rely on s8. Evicting people is not easy at the best of times, so if you want to sell, you should get the ball rolling as soon as you can, especially while you can still use the s21 procedure (subject to you having all the paperwork you need, e.g. EPCs, gas safety certificates, relevant licences, deposit protection certificates).

I do believe you have to be a bit ruthless when you're a landlord, as harsh at it sounds. You can only be so kind, which it sound like you have been. You can every sympathy for his/hers situation but that doesn't mean you should lose out. As mentioned in previous comments, they should be able to claim some sort of housing benefit.

You didn't do this to him, he did this to himself.

It's good you are selling. You have been lucky so far. How do you not know about housing benefit as a landlord?